Hair curler



y 24, 1950- c. D. GRESHAM ET AL 2,937,649

HAIR CURLER 7 Filed July 24, 1958 INVENTOR CLAUDE D. GRESHAM ERNESTHUFFMANN ATTORNEY-5 United States HAIR CURLER Claude D. Gresham andErnest Hoifmanmomaha, Nehru,

assignors to Tip-Top Products Company,'. Omaha, Nebn, a corporation ofNebraska 1 Filed July 24, 1958, Ser. No. 750,636 l v 1 Claim. 01. 132-41The present invention relates hair curler or roller. 6

An important object is to provide a'simple, efficient and inexpensivehair curler, which includes a supporting member or rod and a bail, eachof which is preferably made of light, flexible and durable plasticmaterial, such as polyethylene or the like. The bail is formed withlongitudinally spaced yieldable sides and transverse ends. Arranged tobe axially slideable but non-rotatably mounted on the supporting member,is a tubular foam or cylindrical sponge rubber member around which thelock or strand of hair to be curled is wound. The supporting member ispivotally connected at one end to the bail and has its opposite or freeend arranged to be moved from an open position outside of the bail, to aclosed position within the latter. The free end of the supporting memberis provided with latch means which co-acts with complementaryinterfitting latch means on the bail for releasably connecting thesupporting member and the foam member to the bail when the bail is swungto its closed position. The outer end of the lock of hair to be curledis wrapped around the supporting member when to a new and improved thelatter is in its open position. Thus, it will be seen that When the lockof hair is wrapped on the foam member, if it is of greater diameter thanthe space between the longitudinal sides of the bail, that upon theparts being moved to their closed position, the flexible sides of thebail will be brought into contact with the wound lock of hair, with theresult the more hair that is placed on the supporting member, thetighter the interfitting latch means will be moved into lockingengagement for maintaining the supporting member and the hair woundthereon in a fixed position relative to the bail. Additionally,

as the supporting member and the lock of hair wrapped thereon areconfined within the confronting sides and ends of the bail, theliability of the supporting member being displaced axially relative tothe bail is eliminated and the hair wound on the supporting member isprevented from spreading.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description when taken in conjunction with theaccompanying claim and drawing.

Referring to the drawing, in which is shown a preferred embodiment ofthe invention- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a hair curler constructed inaccordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the flexible bail andsupporting member that constitute a part of the curler;

Fig. 4 is a detailed perspective view of a tubular foam member arrangedto be carried by the supporting memher and positioned between the sidesand ends of the bail when the parts are assembled;

Fig. 5 is a detailed perspective view showing a lock of hair wound onthe curler; and

I 2,937 ,649 Patented May 24, 19 0 size and shape, preferably includes asubstantially rec-.

tangular bail 10 having the spaced parallel sides 11 connected by thetransverse ends 12. The bail 10 may be made of anysuitable light,durable plastic material, such as polyethylene, so as 'to be-ca'pable ofuse withvarious chemicals. An elongated supporting member or rod 13 isformed at one end with an enlarged curved portion 14 provided with atransverse through opening 15 and an interrupted peripheraltransverse-slot 16 (Fig. 3) shaped to receive a reduced central portion17 formed in one of the e'n'ds'12 of the bail, so as to provide apivotal or hinge connection of the supporting member 13 with the bail,in order that its opposite or free end 18 may be swung from anopenposition outside of the bail (Fig. 3), to a closedposition withinthe bail'(Fig. 1'). The supporting member 13 may be made ofsubstantially the same light. plastic material as the bail 10 and isprovided between. its ends, with longitudinally extending andcircumferentially spaced ribs 19. A tubular cylindrical foam member 20of slightly shorter length than the supporting member 13 is arranged tobe axially slideable on the supporting member. The tubular member 20 hasan axial bore 21 and is formed of any suitable soft, compressible foamor sponge rubber capable of readily absorbing moisture, so that a lockor strand of hair, such as 22, will cling to the surface thereof, as thehair to be curled is wrapped thereon.

The outer free end 18 of the supporting member 13 may be provided with atransverse slot or groove 23 which co-acts with a complementary formedinwardly extending rib 24 on the end 12 remote from the pivotalconnection 17 so as to provide releasable interfitting latch means formaintaining the supporting member in its closed position between thesides of the bail. The rib 24 may be integrally formed with the end 12(Fig. 6) and this end may also be provided with an outwardly andlaterally extending rib or handle 25 for facilitating the movement ofthe latch 24 into yieldable snapping engagement with the groove 23, orreleasing the same therefrom. Since the supporting member 13 and the rib24 are connected to the flexible sides 11 of the bail, it will be seenthat lateral expansion and contraction of the sides 11 will causesimultaneous movement of the slot 23 and rib 24, either towards or awayfrom each other,

so as to control the interfitting engagement of the latch completely orfully wrapped on the member 20, the sup porting member 13 is swunginwardly about its pivot 17 so as to position the foam member 20 and thelock of hair wound thereon, within the bail 10 and between theconfronting sides 11 and the transverse ends 12. The transverse groove23 in the free end 18 of the supporting member 1'3 is then brought orsnapped into locking engagement with the rib 24 so as to maintain thesupporting member and the hair wound on the foammember 20, in a fixedposition between the sides of the bail. It will be noted that as theamount of hair wrapped on the supporting member 13 increases, it willsimultaneously increase the diameter thereof so that when the hair woundon the supporting member exceeds a predetermined diameter or becomesgreater than the distance or space between the flexible sides 11 of thebail, it will, upon the supporting member being swung inwardly to itsclosed position, frictionallyengage the confronting sides 11"so' portingmember 13, the tighter will be the locking engagement of the latch means23 and 24 with each other.

It will be seen that when the hair to be curled is wound on thesupporting member 13, the parts may readily be moved and locked in theirclosed position, so as to confine the supporting member 13 and the lock,of hair thereon between the ends 12 of the bail, so as to preventaccidental axial displacementof the supporting member 13 or thespreading of the hair wound on the bail member 20. Thus, the foamcylinder member 13, when a lock or strand of hair to be curled is woundthereon and the parts moved to their closed position (Fig. constitutesmeans for supporting and maintaining firmly in place the curled hair insuch manner that the flexible,

curler may be either concealed or exposed to form an outer curl.Moreover, as the curler avoids the use of metal parts, the soft foamtubular member 13 may be placed comfortably close to the scalp withoutdanger of hurting or pinching the scalp. The ribbed or fluted portion 19of the supporting member 13 frictionally engages the inner wall of thebore 21 of the foam member 20 so as to allow the latter to be axiallyslideable on the supporting member but is prevented from rotatingindependently thereof. As the tubular member is formed of soft absorbentmaterial, such as foam rubber or the like, it may be saturated with ahair curling compound or a hair or scalp treatment fluid.

It will be understood that the form of the invention shown is merelyillustrative and that such changes may be made as come within thepurview of the following claim.

We claim:

A non-metallic hair curler comprising: a rectangular bail havinglongitudinally extending parallel flexible sides and integrally formedtransverse straight ends connecting said sides; one of said transverseends having a reduced '1 portion at its mid-point; a'longitudinallyextending rigid support member pivotally mounted at one end thereof tosaid one transverse endon said reduced portion; the other of saidstraight ends having an integral rib facing inwardly of said bail; thefree end of said suppo'rt member 1 being transversely grooved to engagesaid rib when said support member is in a closed position within saidbail and parallel to its longitudinal sides; and a cylindrical foammember coaxially disposed on said support member and having a diameterless than the length of said transverse ends.

References Cited, in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

